I think that this is a small mouth buffalo but I have never caught a buffalo before so I could definitely be wrong. Put up an awesome fight! Caught using a JIGLYF jig on 6lb monofilament and a light action rod when fishing for white bass on the Brazos river. I've only tried frying the ribs so far, the meat was firm and all 3 of us that tried it thought there was no fishy flavor at all.

Either a Smallmouth or a Black. Hard to tell the difference at that size and they're both present in the Brazos! Smallmouth are much more common and that's what I'd go with

That's what I was thinking, thank y'all! If you were to target these fish on hook and line what would your method be? I'm loving this white bass run but I can see buffalo all over the place pestering the white bass that are holed up, and they make for a much better fight! Having some buffalo bait in my bag would make for a more interesting day of fishing on days that the white bass aren't biting.

Either TXMultiSpecies or Barry Osborne could make the proper call. I will go with what has already been said above.

The rest of the meat is going to have Y bones in it, but there are ways around that. Definitely held in higher regard than eating carp.

Awesome fish Lonestar Angling! Congrats

Side note: that's the first-ever buff that I know of caught on a JIGLYF jig
JIGLYF jigs Catching anything that swims

The mouth shape, size of the mouth in relation to the size of the eye, and body height to length ratio, indicate it is a black buffalo. Black buffalo are common in the Brazos from Lake Granbury to Lake Whitney. I would go with black buffalo (Ictiobus niger). But the whole black buffalo vs smallmouth buffalo issue still needs extensive study, especially in relation to hybrids.

Thats really cool Lonestar Anglin! Those jigs are deadly

I was really in between on this one. Big agree that they need to further study the differences between the two. Interesting to note that on their website TPWD doesn't list Black Buffalo as being in the Brazos, only in the Red, but they are listed on Fishes of Texas!

So I went and drew some lines, lol. It seems this is a Black! The body length is 3x its height, the mouth is larger than the eye, and its head shape is long.

Follow this video exactly and you'll get 'em!

Wow, thank you for the extensive ID Osbornfishing and TXMulti-Species! I will be following the video instructions from C&C next time I get out on the Brazos. I ate some of the bony meat today for lunch and it was actually really good too, I cut it into sections that had 3-4 bones each and picked them out as I ate, they weren't an issue at all to me. The fragile and almost invisible bones you get when you don't cut them out on sunfish or trout are much more difficult to eat around than these long, sturdy bones. I soaked the meat in salt water for 20-30min before breading. Ended up tasting more like chicken than fish, surprisingly? Big thank you to gar1970 and Pot Licker for the great jigs as well, they are the first hand tied jigs that I have ever used and they have been a blast to fish with!

Your welcome Lonestar Angling thank you for giving our jigs a try